


I Still Need You

by hello_pink



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Childhood Friends, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Light Angst, M/M, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Soulmates, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:21:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,100
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28193892
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hello_pink/pseuds/hello_pink
Summary: In this universe, the name of your soulmate is written on your right wrist on your 18th birthday.Iwaizumu turns 18, and suddenly things between him and his best friend Oikawa don't go as they'd like.Haikyuu Secret Santa 2020!!
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 6
Kudos: 110
Collections: Haikyuu Secret Santa 2020





	I Still Need You

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lu_miy](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lu_miy/gifts).



> No manga spoilers and light swearing!
> 
> I love Iwaoi so so much and this is my first time writing a fic with them in mind. I also LOVE soulmate AUs and I could totally see them being destined for each other!!
> 
> A gift for Lu!!

For as long as he could remember, Iwaizumi had always been there by his side. Despite Iwaizumi’s cruel words, Oikawa knew that he just wanted what was best for his best friend. So, on Iwaizumi’s eighteenth birthday, when his soulmate’s name would be appearing on his wrist, Oikawa wanted to be there to support his best friend.

On June 9th at 11:55pm, Oikawa paced around his room, butterflies in his stomach fluttering. A birthday text had been typed up and was ready to send to Iwaizumi as soon as Oikawa saw the time tick over to 12:00, though he was planning on calling the birthday boy anyway. Oikawa longed to be physically next to his best friend as his lifelong companion was revealed to him, but the thought of Iwaizumi finding someone in his life that he’d care for more than Oikawa stung, and Oikawa thought it would be best for both of them if Oikawa wasn’t there.

Oikawa’s stomach twisted as he saw the date on his phone shift to say June 10th. He sent a text to Iwaizumi, but waited a few seconds before calling the other boy. The phone rang and rang without being picked up. After it went to voicemail, Oikawa frowned and his legs wobbled. He brushed his fingers through his chocolatey hair and sat down on the edge of his own bed.

Figuring that Iwaizumi had simply missed the call on accident, Oikawa called again.

_Silly Iwa-chan!! He’s probably so caught up in the excitement of finding out who his soulmate is that he figured my call wasn’t important._ Oikawa’s frown deepened as the call wasn’t picked up yet again, but his text had been seen. He dialed Iwaizumi a third time. _He must be… texting or calling his soulmate right now!! Yeah… that’s it! Good for Iwa-chan!!_

Oikawa hung up the phone before it could go to voicemail and plugged his phone in. He flopped onto his bed and stared at the ceiling. _I don’t think I want to know who it is… I’ll just talk to him tomorrow…_

* * *

Shit shit shit shit. Iwaizumi panicked. With only a few minutes left until his 18th birthday, the male was freaking out and pacing around his room. _If Shittykawa were here, he’d probably make fun of me…_ Despite being minutes away from discovering who he would spend his life with, Iwaizumi’s thoughts were still filled with his childhood friend.

_This is stupid,_ he thought _, why do I need the universe to tell me who my soulmate is when I already have all of the friends I need?_

Iwaizumi’s internal ramblings were cut off by him hearing his phone chime in the cutesy tone Oikawa had set for himself. Without opening the message, Iwaizumi was able to see that Oikawa was wishing him a happy birthday. Iwaizumi smiled for a moment at his best friend’s kindness, but the smile fell as he realized that they could never be the same again. Someone would always be between them… soulmates.

He fumbled with his phone and dropped it on the ground as a cute ringtone began to play. _Oikawa_ , Iwaizumi smiled, _he’s probably going to tease me about my soulmate._

Iwaizumi reached down towards his phone on the bedroom floor which was still buzzing with the call from his best friend. As his fingertips brushed the device, the call dropped as it went to voicemail. Iwaizumi winced as he realized that his best friend might be upset at the missed call.

Iwaizumi grasped the phone and brought it to his face to answer the second call from his best friend. Out of sheer instinct, he caught a glimpse of his right wrist and dropped his phone once again.

_Oikawa Tooru._

* * *

Before dawn broke on the morning of the 10th of June, the Seijoh volleyball boys were warming up in their gym. Per usual, Oikawa had arrived first and had practiced his serving. As the rest of the boys arrived, however, they all noticed how Iwaizumi had not been dragged along. No one said anything for a while as they knew that it was Iwaizumi’s birthday until the other third years arrived.

“Yo Oikawa!” Hanamaki called out.

“Where’s your boyfriend?” Matsukawa teased.

Oikawa’s mood soured at the teasing, but he jumped up to hit his next serve anyways. It was nowhere near inbounds, leading Hanamaki and Matsukawa to burst out into laughter. The gym silenced as the doors opened and Iwaizumi walked in. All eyes were drawn to him, and he glanced at Oikawa before quickly looking away.

Oikawa grabbed another ball from the bin before spinning it and beginning to prepare to serve again. Hanamaki silently tossed Iwaizumi a ball, who launched the ball into the back of Oikawa’s head.

Oikawa silently jolted forward and froze before slowly turning to look at Iwaizumi. His blank, cold face shifted to a more joyous and forced smile as he realized the others were looking at him. “Morning, Iwa-chan!! ‘m glad the birthday boy could make it to practice on time.”

Iwaizumi frowned before turning to Oikawa. “Uh… yeah…”

Everyone looked at the two best friends curiously as the atmosphere was uncharacteristically awkward. The gym remained quiet and everyone looked around questioningly until the coaches walked in.

“Happy Birthday, Iwaizumi.” Coach Irihata nodded over at the boy still standing near the gym doors.

Iwaizumi startled before bowing slightly. “Thank you, Coach.”

Many others chimed in with their own congratulations, and Iwaizumi forced a smile onto his face as he thanked them.

Iwaizumi began to walk over to Oikawa, but Oikawa panicked and began shaking his head and waving Iwaizumi away.

“Iwa-chan, I’ll give you your present after practice!! Not now, you silly goose!” He grinned and winked, which caused Iwaizumi to softly smile. The gym let out a sigh of relief that the two friends had not had a fight, but everyone was still curious as to why they had not shown up together.

Iwaizumi was wondering the same thing. _He texted me this morning after I told him I was sorry I had missed his call. I know he didn’t believe I went to bed early since I read his message…_

_We’d always talked about staying up and finding out who my soulmate was together, but I guess he changed his mind. I know it’s him but… if I’m not his soulmate, I don’t want him to think he owes me anything. He should be free to choose who he loves, not bound to me just because I’ve been hopelessly in love with him for years…_

“--chan~~ Iwa-chan!!”

Iwaizumi’s head snapped towards his childhood friend as he heard his name being called. He blushed at being caught up in his own thoughts.

“Sorry, what did you say?” he asked.

Oikawa smiled teasingly. “I was going to ask if you were planning on practicing in your jacket and pants!!”

Iwaizumi looked down, cheeks flushing as he realized he had not put on his practice shirt yet. After hearing Oikawa’s teasing laughter, however, Iwaizumi scowled and threw a piercing glare at the other boy. Iwaizumi quickly changed and practice began as it would any other day.

* * *

Today, however, everyone could tell their star setter and reliable ace were less than their best. Oikawa’s tosses were ever-so-slightly off as he was focusing on playing as if there was nothing bothering him.

Iwaizumi, on the other hand, was frequently missing the ball all together and his spikes, when they did connect, landed out of bounds or got sent right back over onto his side of the court by a block.

“DAMMIT!!” he yelled as yet another spike was rejected. He landed on his butt and slapped his left hand on the ground out of frustration before cradling it with his right.

Oikawa, noticing Iwaizumi’s shaking legs and hurting hands, walked over to his ace before offering his own right hand for Iwaizumi to use to stand up with.

Iwaizumi glanced up at him for a moment before reaching towards his outstretched hand with his own right hand. Iwaizumi retracted his own hand almost immediately after he saw a glimpse of black ink on his wrist. He quickly put his wrist down by his side and reached towards Oikawa’s hand with his own left hand. Oikawa awkwardly pulled Iwaizumi up as pulling the other boy up by his left and with Oikawa’s right was a bit difficult.

Oikawa’s heart twinged painfully as he had realized that Iwaizumi did not want Oikawa to see whatever was written on his wrist. The lack of trust was as confusing as it was painful, and Oikawa did not offer Iwaizumi any more help up for the duration of practice. The team all watched the interaction with mixed feelings of anger, frustration, and confusion. Hanamaki and Matsukawa nodded at each other as they resolved to force Iwaizumi to tell them what was so important to him to be driving a rift between himself and his best friend.

* * *

After practice, Oikawa called for everyone to gather around. “Come on everyone, it’s time for me to give Iwaizumi his present! You know the tradition!!”

The second and third years groaned as they remembered years past how Oikawa gave Iwaizumi a nice present in some extravagant way.

They all gathered around Iwaizumi, and after singing Happy Birthday to him, Oikawa pulled a Godzilla plushie with a bow and a card wrapped around it out of his bag. Oikawa bent down on one knee in front of Iwaizumi and presented the gift to him.

Iwaizumi fought back a blush before looking at Oikawa. The two stared at each other as if they were the only two in the room.

After a minute, Oikawa cleared his throat and said, “Iwaizumi Hajime, by bestest friend, I hereby present to you the finest Godzilla plush my cute, yet broke, ass could buy. Will you accept?”

The absurdness of the entire situation was not lost on any of the boys present, but Iwaizumi remained silent and shocked. Hanamaki and Matsukawa snickered as they recorded the proposal.

“Get your mans, Oikawa!” Hanamaki called out teasingly.

“You go girl!” Matsukawa joined in.

Iwaizumi was brought out of his stupor at hearing the teasing words. He blushed before grasping the Gozilla in his hands. “Thank you.” He said to Oikawa in a moment of kindness. He moved the plushie to be held in his right hand as he offered his left hand to Oikawa for balance.

Oikawa’s expression twisted and his eyes flashed towards the wrist hiding from his vision before flashing back to Iwaizumi’s face. No one in the gym missed the way Iwaizumi recoiled into himself as Oikawa avoided his offered help.

“Make sure you read the card after school.” Oikawa ominously stated before walking to the lockerroom to change.

Iwaizumi was going to follow him, but Hanamaki and Matsukawa dragged Iwaizumi off to a different side of the gym.

“Dude,” Mattsun prompted, “what is wrong with you?”

“Yeah, why are you being so… standoffish to Oikawa today?” Makki chimed in.

Iwaizumi frowned. “It’s complicated.”

“Complicated my ass.” Makki scoffed. “Is it because you’re obsessed with your soulmate now?”

“You can’t just abandon Oikawa because you have someone the universe says you’re meant to be with. What about all of the times Oikawa’s been there for you?” Mattsun glared at Iwaizumi.

Iwaizumi looked down at his feet in shame. “It’s not like that. I said it’s complicated.”

“Well you’d better make it real simple real quick before you ruin not only your relationship with Oikawa, but the team as well.” Mattsun pointed out.

Iwaizumi silently held out his wrist to the two boys who gasped as they read it.

“Iwaizumi, that’s great!!”

“Yeah, congrats man!”

Their words of congratulations made Iwaizumi’s heart swell, but as he looked across the gym to see a heartbroken expression on Oikawa’s face as he fled the gym, Iwaizumi knew that the moment would forever be remembered as bittersweet.

Remembering his best friend’s words, Iwaizumi looked at the card attached to the plush:

_I’m sorry this year might be a little embarrassing, but I wanted to give it to you in a meaningful way one last time since I know this will be the last time it means anything to you._

Iwaizumi’s brow furrowed as he looked up and saw the gym emptying out as the players left to go to their homeroom class. His confused expression remained throughout the day as he went through the typical motions of school with even less enthusiasm as normal.

* * *

Over the next few weeks, Iwaizumi couldn’t help but notice that Oikawa avoided him every opportunity he could outside of practice and had begun eating lunch with the girls that asked him to instead of the team. They didn’t go to practice together and didn’t go home together. They only spoke during practice and didn’t even congratulate each other when they did combos right.

_What happened?_ Iwaizumi wondered as June turned into July. _I guess his soulmate really must be someone else. Probably for the best…_

* * *

Iwaizumi continued his day-to-day life with heaviness in his heart. On the other hand, Oikawa was on the brink of breaking down.

_Why? Why is his soulmate better than me? How does he already care for them more than me?_

Oikawa spent day in and day out thinking about how he was no longer the number one person in Iwaizumi’s life.

_All of these years for nothing,_ he often told himself as he was crying in the dark of night. _It’s okay_ , he comforted himself. _Soon I’ll have my own soulmate to fill the void Iwa-chan left._

* * *

Days passed as the atmosphere between the childhood friends grew more and more tense. Any attempt to talk Iwaizumi attempted was shot down by Oikawa making an excuse or mumbling about ‘Iwa-chan’s soulmate.’

Before either of them had fully processed the rift that had grown between them, August was looming closer, and Oikawa was about to turn 18 as well.

Oikawa, unbeknownst to him, was pacing around his room as Iwaizumi had a little over a month prior. _Please please please be a name to bring me happiness,_ Oikawa begged the universe.

He jumped as his phone chimed with an incoming call. The familiar ringtone prompted Oikawa’s muscle memory to kick in and he answered the call from Iwaizumi without thinking. He cursed himself, but greeted Iwaizumi anyways, “H-hello?”

“Come outside.” came Iwaizumi’s direct reply before he hung up.

Oikawa pouted before looking at the time displayed on his phone. July 19th, 11:40pm. _He’s going to ruin my special day!!_ Oikawa stomped his foot on his ground angrily before brushing a hand through his hair to calm down. He didn’t want to be rude and leave Iwaizumi out for too long, so he walked down stairs. He took a deep breath before opening the front door and stepping outside.

He was greeted by the sight of Iwaizumi in his typical Godzilla hoodie and a beanie. Oikawa huffed a laugh and he caught the eye of Iwaizumi. “So? What’s up Iwa-chan?” Oikawa tried to act casual, but his fidgeting gave him away.

“Oikawa please listen to me. I don’t know-- no… I know why we’ve grown apart these last few weeks. But I need to know why. Why have you been avoiding me anyways?”

Oikawa sighed. “Because, Iwa-chan. Because I can’t stand to be there when you look at someone else the way I--” He took a deep breath. “I can’t stand the fact that you don’t need me anymore.”

Iwaizumi gaped. “I’ve always needed you, Tooru!”

“Haj--” Oikawa cleared his throat. “Iwa-chan, I thought that this was made clear by both of us, but your soulmate needs you now. You should focus more on them like you have been for the last while.”

“But Tooru--”

Loud sobs wracked Oikawa’s body as he let Iwaizumi see what the boy had been reduced to at this point. Oikawa let his tears flow and let his whole body shake before his voice returned quieter than it had been before. “I wish we would never turn eighteen. I wish soulmates weren’t real. I wish I didn’t have to let you go because I just want you to be mine.”

Oikawa’s voice got quieter at the end of his words, but Iwaizumi didn’t miss any of them. Iwaizumi stepped towards the other boy, before taking Oikawa’s right wrist in his grasp. “I’ve always been yours.”

Oikawa shook his head, still sobbing. “Not anymore since--”

Iwaizumi let go of Oikawa’s wrist as an alarm went off on Iwaizumi’s phone. His eyes lit up and he leaned towards Oikawa, forcing the boy to move back against his closed front door. “Happy birthday, Tooru. You’re right. I should focus on my soulmate more.”

Oikawa refused to look at Iwaizumi and missing the loving glance sent his way. “If you’re going to break my heart even more, go away. Don’t talk to me.”

Iwaizumi grasped Oikawa’s chin and gently forced their gazes to meet. Oikawa’s mind malfunctioned as he wasn’t sure how to process the look in Iwaizumi’s eyes.

Iwaizumi slowly closed the gap between the two of them, giving Oikawa ample time to pull away or turn to the side. The brown-haired boy closed his eyes and tangled his hands in Iwaizumi’s hair, inviting him closer.

The two boys’ lips met in a soft battle as neither were quite sure what they were doing. After a few moments, Oikawa tilted his head to the side and the kiss deepend. A few moments of connection felt like not enough time before the two were forced to part for air.

“But Haj… your soulmate?” Oikawa panted as he tried to formulate the words he wanted to say.

“He’s right in front of me.” Iwaizumi confidently stated. “I wanted you to find out on your own in case you didn’t, uh… didn’t like me back.” he blushed.

Oikawa untangled his right hand from Iwaizumi’s hair before looking down at his wrist.

_Iwaizumi Hajime._

Oikawa used his free hand to wipe the tears away from his eyes as he began crying even harder. “Ugh, yuck.” he sucked snot back into his nose. “Don’t look at me right now.”

Iwaizumi leaned in and kissed stray tears away. “You’re always beautiful to me.” He said with his lips all but on Oikawa’s.

The two shared short breaths together for a few moments before meeting each other’s lips once more.

“Happy birthday, Tooru. I love you.” Iwaizumi said in between love-filled kisses.

“I love you too, Hajime.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, and Happy Holidays!!


End file.
